CNG dealers extract 100% profit,as no authority keeps a check

[Naveed Yaseen]

By AR Qureshi
KARACHI: CNG dealers extract a 100-percent profit per kilogram sold while petroleum dealers are operating at a profit of Rs 2.50 per liter, petitioner Advocate Javaid Ahmed Chattari argued before the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday.

Chattari previously challenged the unilateral increase in the price of CNG, which was once promoted by the government as a cheap alternate fuel to cut the oil import bill. He presented the break-up per unit of gas sold by CNG producers, mostly government agencies including Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd, and said that CNG is now being sold at Rs 47.25 and pump operators make a profit of nearly 100 percent, excluding all expenditures including electricity bills and government levies.

He maintained that the different CNG dealers’ associations cited in the petition as respondents are compelling their respective members to sell CNG at this exorbitant rate and do not allow any member to sell it at concessionary rates, even if they want to.

Chattari also drew the court’s attention to the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority’s (OGRA) inaction and said that this body is supposed to regulate petroleum and fuels prices in the country, but on the matter of CNG, it remains a silent spectator. He held that the petroleum ministry fails to uphold the citizens’ rights and leaves them at the mercy of CNG pump operators and dealers.

In such a scenario, only the judiciary can save the poor consumers from the CNG dealers’ tyranny, he submitted, praying the court to direct OGRA and other respondents to fix CNG prices and not to leave it open to dealers and producers.

The division bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Azizullah M. Memon and Justice Khalid Ali Z Kazi, heard the petitioner and adjourned further proceedings till August 20 when the respondents will rebut.

No CBA certificate for CAA union till Aug 31: SHC: The Sindh High Court directed on Friday a National Industrial Relations Commission (NIRC) bench not to issue the certificate of Collective Bargaining Agent (CBA) to a group calling themselves the union of CAA employees before taking a decision on an application filed by a rival group.

The bench was hearing a constitution petition moved by the rival group of the said union, led by Zaheeruddin Baber. The bench, comprising Justice Ali Sain Dino Metlo and Justice Dr Rana Shamim, asked the NIRC to not issue the CBA certificate to the group led by Ziauddin Sana before August 31.

The petitioner alleges a number of illegalities and infirmities in the membership and the election process. The Sana group clinched the elections in a referendum held on August 5.

Meanwhile, another SHC bench issued pre-admission notices to a number of respondents in a petition filed by the Wali Dad Goth Welfare Association.

The petitioners, citing the Sindh home secretary, Sindh IGP, CCPO and SHO Surjani Town as respondents, maintain that their village is notified under the Goth Abadi Scheme and exists in all government surveys as an old village. They claim that the authorities and the land mafia are in collusion in land grabbing attempts and claim that the respondents have already demolished some of the old houses and hutments.

The bench, after hearing initial arguments by counsel for the petitioner association, issued pre-admission notices to the respondents for August 21.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...008_pg12_5